LISHUI, DIOCESE of. - In the civil province of Chekiang, in central-eastern China. It was erected as an apostolic prefecture, under the name of Chuchow, on 2 July 1931, with 10 civil sub-prefectures Ningpo (v.) and entrusted to the Seminary for the Chinese Missions of Scarboro Bluffs (Canada), now the Society for the Foreign Missions of Scarboro Bluffs, whose Fathers had been on the spot since 1926. On 28 May 1937 it changed the name of Chuchow to that of L., and on 25 June 1940 it was enlarged by the district of Kinhwa (8 civil sub-prefectures which had hitherto belonged to the mission of Hangchow); on 13 May 1948 it was raised to the rank of a diocese suffragan to Hangchow.
It has an area of 23,484 sq. km., with 3,309,300 inhabitants, of whom 4,286 are Catholics, served by 5 diocesan and 8 regular priests, with 8 parishes and 38 churches, 5 educational institutions and 2 charitable institutions.
The evangelization of L. is recent: when the first three missionaries from Scarboro Bluffs arrived there in Jan. 1926, there were only two Lazarists in the territory, who subsequently returned to the mother mission of Ningpo. The work of the new evangelical labourers developed considerably: in June 1929 there were 2,411 baptized persons and several catechumens. The annexation of the district of Kinhwa increased the number of the faithful, who were likewise recent converts. The mission suffered greatly during the Sino-Japanese war.